#yellowout

Only the internet can romanticize racism into the act of posting selfies. Frankly, the word racism is becoming so mercurial but at the same time so cannily tossed around that the first feeling I experience upon hearing or seeing the word is exhaustion.

Someone trend #Yellowout so development of a three faction war TBS game akin to Civilization can begin with a stunning resource management system that consists of three pivotal assets:ANGER, PRIVILEGE and last but not least SENTENTIOUSNESS.

 Honestly though, Blackout worked. I’m happy it made people confident in their appearance, people getting courage from others is always a great thing to see - that’s how it should be. But is a movement combating black portrayal in media, which is already exaggerated as much as the movement itself, because that is what media does. Exaggerates, romanticizes, the media has always been tedentious. Yet I’m completely willing to ignore that fact because it made people feel beautiful. It made a LOT of people feel beautiful. There is no way you can argue against a movement that brings so much positivity to how people think of themselves.

But now whiteout posters and the tag itself is completely overdramatized. There isn’t nobility in forming a movement simply out being excluded out of it. Yet ignoring that, it’s sentiment isn’t inherently bad as everyone claims it to be. It’s just White people posting selfies on Tuesdays (Is it Tuesdays?). If people want to do that, let them do it. If they want to feel pride in white beauty, then that’s fine. Getting upset over the potential that people can post and find worth in posting their pictures in that tag, just as Black posters did on Blackout, should not be a problem. Attaching those who felt ‘excluded’ to make a Whiteout might be partially true, but that doesn’t mean it was wholly born out of spite, there will be honest posters suffering from the same apprehension of their image as those on Friday did, let them find ease in this tag.

Regardless, there will be toxic people, on both ends, people who don’t want confidence and comfort to be extended to everyone. People who want to attach racism, combat with others and drain the positivity just to soak up in the negativity. That’s the internet these days, but I just hope the genuineness of both tags can outlive the negativity. I don’t really care who you are, but you shouldn’t put down other people’s attempt to share their pride, no matter who they are, because you’re never in the position to do so.

You’re an individual, feel proud about it. They’re an individual, let them feel proud about it.

You want to have a Tumblr wide event that celebrates Asians. Fine. Be creative, Look at the issues we specifically face, and find a way to combat them. Don't take another group's idea just because it was successful. Especially since Asians have a history (and present) of anti-blackness. 

You know what would actually be a really cool thing? #asiansasartists . Because Asian artists are ignored and invisiblized. We are huge contributors to pop, music, fine art, literature, make up, clothing design, etc... world and yet there is very little recognition of it. We are creative and inspired, and yet our parents often discourage us from pursuing careers in the arts. We are stereotyped as too robotic, traditional, or perfectionist to truly be creators of groundbreaking art. So it would be really cool to have a day of posting and reblogging books, clothes, paintings, food, animations, music, or whatever else by Asian artists so we can see just how artistic our community is, celebrate that, and maybe find new authors to read, music to listen, and make up gurus to follow.